1 Origin

Born with white hair and very dark eyes, I've always felt different from other kids my age.

And becoming friends with others was tough enough with my appearance, but was even harder because of how frail I was from a young age.

I couldn't play like the others could and certainly not for long periods of time, while my mother had always been very protective of me, not letting me do much, afraid I would get hurt.

But her worries weren't uncalled for.

I had gotten badly injured numerous times while doing very mundane activities, so it was understandable that she was that way.

And supposedly, from what my mother and the other villagers told me, she had shown up out of the blue with me as a toddler in her arms, as well as an unborn child. She had frostbite and cuts all over her body while she was also carrying a child, so of course, the villagers lent her a hand.

And to add to that, she had peerless beauty, which made them wish to help her even more.

They helped her recover and fed her, all while taking care of me. After a few days, once she finally woke up, she claimed not to have any recollection of her past.

And all she could remember was her name and that of her son, me.

Supposedly she had been wandering the cold mountainous region and spotted a village, which she headed towards, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember anything else.

But that didn't matter, since she was safe and so were her son and unborn child.

It was a miracle that we had all managed to survive, and even the village doctor was amazed, having doubted the safety of my mother's unborn child. However, they were glad it turned out that way and continued to aid the young beauty and her son.

We were housed in a small but cosy spare home and they treated us like their own. We were lucky that the village was very warm and welcoming. Meanwhile, the villagers also didn't seek anything in return, helping us out despite the village struggling to make ends meet.

Because of that, my mother felt like she owed them greatly and swore to do her utmost to repay them, which she certainly did after she gave birth to her second child. Being born in the spring, the baby girl was named Lily, and unlike me, but similar to our mother, she was a very healthy and energetic child.

My mother had an abnormally strong physique and would do anything to help out.

Her presence alone lightened up the mood in the village, and with her hard-working nature, she brought a new sense of joy to the village, which has flourished ever since she showed up.

She made sure to teach me and my younger sister, as well as quite a few other children in the village, how to read and write, which was something that was innate in her and impossible to forget. With most of the villagers being illiterate and her gentle approach to teaching, she had a big impact on the village as a whole just by educating as many of them as she could. Added to that were all the other things she did around the village, with her putting herself forwards for anything that she could do. With that, the village was peaceful and prospering more than ever.

But good times never last forever...

-

Time passed quickly and, over time, she started to have small recollections of her forgotten past. While they were short, they were still enough for her to tell me and my sister stories about a man whose presence was evident in all her memories.

That man was supposedly Lily and I's father, but she wasn't entirely sure, and all her flashbacks were hazy. But it was a pleasant thought for us to share, especially since she claimed that he was remarkable. She described the man that she believed to be our father as a brave, strong, and handsome warrior.

And despite my doubts about the validity of her claims, I tried my best to believe them and imagined myself one day living up to that image.

But the likelihood of that with my frail body was as low as it could possibly be.

However, how could I complain?

-

Life was easy and I never let things get to me.

I rarely felt sad and my mother's warm smile and care would always wipe away all my worries.

And to add to that, I had an energetic and cute little sister that would amuse me and warm my heart with all her antics.

What was there to complain about?

But time flew by, and before I knew it, I turned 16 and was starting to get fed up.

Unlike the other youths in the village, I didn't have any ambitions to speak of other than some pipe dreams that would never come to fruition, and I still relied on my mother for everything.

Some villagers my age had even gotten engaged and started to build their own homes. A few had even left the village with the dream of one day becoming a combatant, which was something I could only fantasize about achieving with my feeble physique.

Meanwhile, I was still being heavily protected by my mother, who still worried about me continuously.

But although I couldn't claim to be as strong as some of my peers, I wasn't as weak as I previously was and I made it clear to my mother that I wanted to be more independent.

Unlike most others, I was not interested in the mainland, which the villagers described as a dangerous but incredible place that was full of combatants and opportunities.

All I wanted was to live happily with my family and not be a burden to them or anybody else.

That would be enough to satisfy me, despite the aspirations that I had.

It was better to settle than to seek something that I knew was impossible, and once I came to that conclusion, I appreciated what I had more than ever.

A caring mother, a cute little sister, and a whole lifetime ahead of me.

-

Deciding to make the most of my life even if I lived it in the most mundane way possible, I told my mother that I wanted to be the one to do some of the trades between villages, which she would usually do with a few of the other villagers.

As my mother was kind, charismatic, and pleasing to the eye, she always managed to make the finest possible trades with other villages. However, as a young adult, I wanted to take on some responsibility and ease the burden on my mother's shoulders, and I was surprised that she agreed.

Usually, she wouldn't want me to do much other than play with my younger sister, study, or roam around the village, but this time she respected my choice after seeing how adamant I was about it, which I appreciated.

But, after coming to terms with my life and leaving for another village by myself for the first time to trade with them, my entire life came crashing down and all in the span of a few hours...